So, for two months, I posted a weekly blog about the things I have made and done in my home for the past year or so – bolstered by the quarantine for extra DIY magic with paint and chalkboards – and then I went dark for a whole MONTH! This was not my intention. I wanted to be consistent with blogging, offering up the fresh commentary on my latest endeavor weekly – That was my goal. The tricky thing about writing about weekly adventures, is you have to HAVE adventures weekly to write about them. OR DO YOU?

I have decided that I will continue to attempt to write a weekly blog post regardless of some epic DIY accomplishment – and celebrate the IN BETWEEN times of cool crafts and mind blowing paint choices ha! Getting through a week right now without blowing something up IS a WIN in my book and we should celebrate our successes big and small! Speaking of small efforts, this post and my new goal was inspired by a quote I read this fine Monday morning –

“Every time you pick up the toys after a day of full play or when you mow the grass that has gotten truly unruly because of the warmth and moisture of the summer, you are bringing order out of chaos. You are pushing back the forces of darkness by even such small measures as cleaning up the family desk in the kitchen by saying that chaos and disorder will not reign forever. You are imagining your Creator by making something out of nothing, by making clean what was once filthy, and by making broken things new.”

Courtney Reissig @risenmotherhood

“Pushing back the forces of darkness by even such small measures” SMALL measures. Some of the smallest efforts should be the most celebrated! I realize that while I haven’t been “making” crafts or painting walls, I have been creating a work life balance with working from home while keeping my kids entertained and I can write about the win that was the activity that worked for 2 hours. Attempting to keep the kids off the tablets and away from screens while the heat wave blows through Chicago might be an interesting piece. My goal in keeping the house from falling apart while the kids are constantly bringing out and leaving shoes and toys around (as an obvious and devious way of ending my life via tripping) is a series of many fun-size efforts that add up. These major wins aren’t tangible (meaning you can’t feel and touch them) and they take tiny consistent steps that weigh on you and wear you down. Why is this?

Sometimes, it feels like we are all conditioned to want to better ourselves so much that we don’t celebrate our petite accomplishments, that any one small step isn’t’ enough. If we stop and smile and allow satisfaction of completeness when finishing a small effort, might we feel happier and more content? I know I am not alone in that I unload the dishwasher only to load it again and so on and so forth – it NEVER ENDS. The process itself of continuing to do it is a WIN – so I try to give myself grace if I can’t get to it OR do my best to stay on top of the never ending dish dilemma. The small measures are the most important since the BIGGEST win is staying afloat and continuing to move forward!

Chaos and disorder will not reign forever. That phrase struck me as well. It’s what we are all fighting, yes? We want to feel safe and completed. For me, that is finding the time to and choosing to address the various pockets of mayhem around me instead of “creating” more. I don’t mean creating more chaos, I simply mean for the time being if I am not inspired to make something, then I will not do it. Instead, I will find an area to create order and simplicity.

So there you have it! A month’s worth of decluttering and keeping my kitchen table clean. That last part was a joke – for 3 weeks my kitchen table was completely covered with 4th of July party paraphernalia, art project remnants, pearler beads, and stacks of paper. I would work around the house getting to dishes (as per above this is a constant) walking past the table and stare at it, needing to muster the energy and focus I knew it would take complete this task. I finally got around to it last week and it took me 2 hours to place each item in its home. I still have two small bins of “where do these go” toys but, for the most part, all of the major items are addressed.

Quick side note – in our old home this table and chairs sat IN OUR KITCHEN. We purchased it for that room and it was there for 3 years before moving to our current and forever home. Now, our kitchen doesn’t fit a table and it sits adjacent to what some would call. “a dining room.” My husband has since started calling it a “dining room table” correcting me when I call it a kitchen table, since it isn’t IN A Kitchen anymore.

I stand by my parlance,

once a kitchen table, ALWAYS a kitchen table.

I am going to spend time talking about gardening next post – so get ready for some more miniature steps talk (weeding is a DAILY process)! Consistent efforts are like toilet paper. You can take a few squares here and there and it doesn’t seem to change the shape of the roll itself. After a week or two, it finally starts to appear smaller – we know we will use it all eventually and that we will have to have more in our home somewhere as a back up. I am not suggesting that we celebrate every time we use toilet paper (unless you didn’t have any during March of 2020 – what a rush that was finding some Charmin!) but what if we gave ourselves the same faith that our small own steps add up and mattered, just like we know that toilet paper will eventually disappear?

what if we gave ourselves the same faith that our small own steps add up and mattered